(Topic ID: 157856)

Pinball Coach: free app that includes places to play, events, and m

By stephanie

8 years ago


Topic Heartbeat

Topic Stats

  • 13 posts
  • 7 Pinsiders participating
  • Latest reply 7 years ago by stephanie
  • Topic is favorited by 5 Pinsiders

You

Linked Games

No games have been linked to this topic.

    Topic Gallery

    View topic image gallery

    FEATUREGRAPHIC_(resized).jpg

    You're currently viewing posts by Pinsider stephanie.
    Click here to go back to viewing the entire thread.

    #1 8 years ago

    Announcing Pinball Coach, a free app for pinball players. It includes Places to Play, Event Listings, Short Demo Videos, Game Info, Tips, Trivia, and more. (as more info is added, your app will auto-update) Now available on the Apple and Google play stores.

    Apple App store: : https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/pinball-coach/id1094815965?mt=8

    Google play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.pinballcoach.pinballcoach

    Thanks for checking it out!

    FEATUREGRAPHIC_(resized).jpgFEATUREGRAPHIC_(resized).jpg

    ICONa_(resized).pngICONa_(resized).png

    #2 8 years ago

    FEATUREGRAPHIC_(resized).jpgFEATUREGRAPHIC_(resized).jpg

    #9 7 years ago

    Thanks for the feedback, it's very helpful. More shows, locations, info, and exciting features coming soon. Working to verify each location but this will take some time.

    The idea of the app is to provide a convenient, fun and easy to use resource for pinball players. This app’s for you, if you…
    ...like discovering new places to play pinball (great for travelers)
    ...might enjoy playing pinball trivia
    ...are interested in attending pinball events
    ...would read the rule card on the machine IF it was there, IF the font was large enough, IF the light was good enough, and IF time permitted
    ...want to know about the skill-shot, getting multi-ball, jackpots, extra balls, etc. before you play
    ...would view short pinball demo videos

    Please contact me here or via the contact form in the with any info you want to share or any details or features you'd like to have in the app.

    Thanks again!

    1 week later
    #12 7 years ago
    Quoted from EightBitWhit:

    These two items alone make the app worth it, IMHO. I think that if there was a section on basic/intermediate skills (like how to do a drop catch, alley pass, etc.) that would be very helpful as well. Think about the old 'Pinball 101' app and parlay some of that content in this and I'd pay for it.
    A quick thought on some graphic cleanups - there's a LOT of blue in this app - any chance on making a dark and/or light theme or different sections have different background colors? Truthfully the sections all look the same from 3ft. away and with the 'cascading list' style this program is, things tend to bleed together.
    Not sure how much the playfield puzzle will really be used in comparison to the other sections, though.
    Don't get me wrong - I really like the app - just trying to put down some initial thoughts after paging through it for a few minutes.

    Thanks for taking the time to provide all this great feedback! You made many good points that will really help me to improve the app.

    #13 7 years ago
    Quoted from Jarkko:

    My first impressions:
    - the "upcoming events" lists Canada and USA only. There are a lot of events in Europe, for example, and I would assume getting most out of this myselft when travelling. The local events I usually know about. I guess the app could figure out the location of the user (if permitted, obviously) and display events nearby by default, with a possibility to change the location if needed. Use case: "going abroad next week, wonder if there's a tournament nearby".
    - "places to play". Again, US states only. I don't know if there's a global pinball locator anywhere anymore that is any good, or if they provide an interface to hook into. But if there was, more global coverage would be much appreciated. Heck, if you want to add Finland, I happen to be responsible for our local database and would be happy to provide an API of some sort for the data if needed
    - "the Pin-Trivia". Looks like a lot of fun. Have you written this all by yourself (you and your friends listed in the acknowledgement page), or would you consider crowdsourcing for new questions, for example here in Pinside? Or via the app, perhaps. Obviously moderation of some sort is needed.
    - "Game info". The "Credits & release info" is not fetched programmatically from IPDB, right? Instead you've gathered the data from there and possibly various other sources manually? Sounds like a lot of work, but that's fine for the end user if you pull that off. The "rules & tips" I'm most interested in, and integration with pintips.net would be a huge plus. Now it's mostly the instruction card data, right? And that's fine, too, although I'd call that "instruction card" instead . The images I don't really care that much, but the videos I do, and linking to PAPA tutorials and tournament videos is a great choice. Better than the promo videos that many games link to, IMHO.
    - "Links and resources". These I don't usually need in a hurry, but if I do, grouping them and prioritizing them a bit could improve that a bit.
    - "Playfield puzzle", a fun idea Maybe I won't suck at this kind of puzzles after practicing with this for a while.
    - "Tips for beginners". Good addition, I could see myself handing the phone over to a friend who hasn't played that much and is waiting for his turn while I play . Quite a lot of text, though. I usually use http://papa.org/learning-center/players-guide/?target=techniques for this. Maybe link to a video or two there?
    Looking back to above, I sound a bit too negative, and that's not my intention. The app looks fun and useful and I'll definitely try that out when playing recreationally or in a competition. Keep up the good work and thank you for the app so far.

    WOW! Thank you so much! You did not seem negative at all. You confirmed a few ideas and gave me some more. I appreciate and thank you for every word and thought you shared.

    Events - It's my intention to add ALL IFPA Events, worldwide, as soon as possible. Also considering the places/events alerts.

    Places to play – plans to build this up too, and I'm happy to add Finland. Of course this will happen much sooner if you can provide me with a list You can email to pinfoapps @gmail.com.

    Currenty, I write all the pin-trivia, and asking for people to contribute is a great idea, though my plan was to keep writing the trivia but and ask for some Pro Tips...and give credit to the contributors....either way, it would require moderation, so it's not at the top of my list just yet.

    Game info – I use as many sources as possible – beginning with rules from the cards and from the manuals, then I visit a few sites, watch a few videos, and hunt for a least one or two extra tips per game. And add and update as many as possible. (It is a lot of work but worthwhile ...Rules vs. Instructions....hm. I'll ponder this some more and if you see the change, you'll know it was your. Idea

    Videos...I'm just trying to select videos that are helpful, short, and entertaining. But based on your feedback, may include a few that are longer, too. And adding videos to the section for new players is brilliant, thank you! You'll see this improvement soon.

    Links & Resources – you're right – I'll organize or alphabetize, asap.

    Thanks again! Looking forward to staing in touch and getting your Finland events added

    You're currently viewing posts by Pinsider stephanie.
    Click here to go back to viewing the entire thread.

    Reply

    Wanna join the discussion? Please sign in to reply to this topic.

    Hey there! Welcome to Pinside!

    Donate to Pinside

    Great to see you're enjoying Pinside! Did you know Pinside is able to run without any 3rd-party banners or ads, thanks to the support from our visitors? Please consider a donation to Pinside and get anext to your username to show for it! Or better yet, subscribe to Pinside+!


    This page was printed from https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/pinball-coach-free-app-that-includes-places-to-play-events-and-m?tu=stephanie and we tried optimising it for printing. Some page elements may have been deliberately hidden.

    Scan the QR code on the left to jump to the URL this document was printed from.